Hull Geological Society
News and abstracts
Copyright Hull Geological Society.
(updated 20th March 2019)
Ian
Heppenstall died of a heart attack on 9th March 2019, aged 72. His
funeral will be in the small chapel at Chanterlands Avenue Crematorium at 1pm on
Monday 25th March. A collection will be made for Parkinson’s Disease.
Whitham Medal
2019-
The Felix Whitham Memorial Medal is awarded to Lewis Rose for his contribution to the understanding of local geology through the new Geology displays at Hornsea Museum. The medal is awarded “for contributions to new research into the geology of eastern Yorkshire or northern Lincolnshire, or it may be awarded for active contributions to geological outreach projects in the Hull area…."
Thursday 28th March 2019 - Dr Lyndsey Fox of Hull University on "Illuminating
Anthropogenic climate change with 150 years of ocean science"
Abstract -
"Modern oceanography began with the HMS Challenger expedition from 1872 to 1876. This historic voyage was the first to specifically gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures, seawater chemistry, currents, marine life and the geology of the sea floor. With the 150th anniversary of this momentous voyage fast approaching (2022), I aim to take the historical endeavours of this seminal expedition and combine them with 21st century cutting-edge science to tackle some of the most urgent questions of our time with regards to anthropogenic environmental change. The vast quantities of Challenger plankton tow material housed in the Natural History museum collections offers a singular opportunity to spotlight one of our most pressing environmental issues: ocean acidification (OA).
"Both measured and projected changes in seawater
chemistry have potentially catastrophic biotic effects as OA hinders biogenic
carbonate production, leading to substantial changes in marine ecosystems.
Current attempts to address this issue via laboratory based studies have serious
limitations, which can only be overcome by comparing newly discovered plankton
tows from the historic HMS Challenger expedition (1872-1876) with the
ground-breaking TARA expeditions (2009-2016).
"Here we discuss the untapped
potential of historical collections for gaining new insights into the
sensitivity of the global climate system to CO2 forcing, as we present new data
gathered over the past 12 months from two test sites in the tropical Pacific
Ocean. These data revealed, without exception, that of the 24 specimens analysed
through nanno-CT scanning; all modern foraminifera showed significantly thinner
shells compared to their preindustrial counterparts (Figs. 1-3). Open ocean
studies, such as this, are urgently needed to understand the impact of
multi-stressor environments on shell parameters of multiple species, and reveal
the magnitude of OA across the globe.
Thursday 21st March - Evening Lecture - Prof David Bond of Hull
University on "When life nearly died - new perspectives on the
Permian-Triassic mass extinction
At the end of the Permian, 252 million years (Myr) ago,
Earth suffered its greatest ever crisis during which around 90% of living
species were wiped out. Almost every group was affected, on land, and in the
oceans, and it is the only mass extinction of insects. This truly was "the day
the Earth nearly died" (although it lasted significantly longer than a day!).
This was an event so catastrophic that it wiped the evolutionary slate clean,
ultimately paving the way for the rise of the dinosaurs (and then, of course,
humans). But what could possibly have caused such a disaster?
Despite controversy over the
timing of losses, radio-isotopic dating indicates that extensive damage was done
to both terrestrial and marine ecosystems in a very brief interval around the
end of the period. The focus now is on understanding the role of the proposed
kill mechanisms, including (in no particular order): global warming, ocean
anoxia (deoxygenation) and acidification, volcanic winter, hypercapnia (CO2
poisoning), aridity on land, increased sediment flux to the oceans, ozone
destruction and resultant harmful ultraviolet-B radiation, acid rain,
atmospheric oxygen depletion, and poisoning by toxic trace metals. Each has
probable origins in Siberian Traps volcanism, in particular the vast volumes of
gases (e.g. CO2) that must have been released. The latest work is beginning to
reveal the likeliest culprits: extreme global warming and its knock-on effects,
perhaps coupled with an acidification crisis in the oceans.
Lower Triassic marine strata of the Sverdrup Basin
(Arctic Canada) include a thick succession of sandy and silty facies that record
life in the aftermath of the end Permian mass extinction. Proxies for
oxygenation (trace metals, pyrite framboids) suggest that dysoxic conditions
prevailed in the Basin for much of the Early Triassic. This suppressed
bioturbation and allowed the frequent development of microbially-induced
sedimentary structures (MISS), including wrinkle structures, Kinneyia and bubble
texture. The microbial mats responsible for these structures are envisaged to
have thrived, in dysoxic settings, within the photic zone, on fine sand
substrates. The dysoxic history was punctuated by better-oxygenated phases,
which coincide with the loss of MISS. Thus, Permo-Triassic boundary and
Griesbachian mudrocks from the deepest-water settings have common benthos and a
well-developed, tiered burrow profile dominated by Phycosiphon. MISS are also
lacking from Skolithos-burrowed, nearshore sandstones that developed during
basin-wide oxygenation in the late Dienerian. Intervals of the intense burrowing
in the earliest Triassic contradicts the notion that bioturbation was severely
suppressed at this time due to extinction losses at the end of the Permian.
Thursday 21st February 2019 - Evening Lecture -
Prof Chris Clark of Sheffield University on
the
"Retreat
of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet
We have known for a long
time that a kilometres-thick ice sheet largely covered Britain and Ireland
during the last glacial, peaking at around 27,000 years ago. Most evidence for
its geometry arises from tens of thousands of geological and geomorphological
observations, but almost wholly restricted to land. The earliest researchers
(e.g. Geike 1867) were happy to use simple glaciological logic (presumed ice
sheet symmetry) to reconstruct ice margins that reached far offshore and to the
continental shelf edge. Such views were rejected by more conservative and
evidence-based approaches that followed, leading to reconstructions of a mostly
terrestrially-restricted ice sheet. Numerical ice sheet models of the time did
what they were told regarding ice limits. Over the last decade the focus of
investigation has moved offshore, enabled by new high resolution bathymetric and
shallow seismic data, and leading to a ‘gold-rush’ of discoveries that have
transformed our understanding. The continental shelf has abundant evidence of
grounded ice cover.
The BRITICE-CHRONO consortium of researchers has been a six year project to constrain the timing of retreat of the British-Irish Ice Sheet by a systematic dating programme focussed on the marine-to-terrestrial transition. From two research cruises some 18,000 km of geophysical data and 377 vibro- and piston cores, along with many stratigraphic sections on land have been used to provide material for dating. The aims and objectives of the project and progress thus far will be reported along with some highlights from the various transects under investigation. The new BRITICE Glacial map of Britain and Ireland will be shown which contains some 170,000 glacial landforms.
A unique piece of geo-art is for sale. For the "On the Endless Here" collaboration between local artists and members of the Society, Anna Kirk-Smith created a piece called “With a Learner’s Faith”. Anna is now moving to a smaller studio in Bridlington and would like to sell the work to a interested geologist rather than auction it. If you would like to make an offer please email the HGS Secretary.
Anna describes the work -
This painting / construct was part of the On the Endless Here show; the
accompanying description is below. It is on MDF / wooden frame with a
painted/drawn surface and 3D objects/fossils. It is quite large - approx. A1 in
size.
This once was how the George Lamplugh described his approach to his
studies of the Pleistocene tills and fossils at Bridlington Crag, including
Danes Dyke, South Landing and Sewerby, my initial stomping grounds. He began his
field observations in 1878, at the tender age of 19 years and was a descriptive
genius. I put my “learners faith” (utterly devoid of genius) in the Hull
Geological Society and began the exploratory field trips with the members to the
headland (sagely noting the white stone, and overlying brown ooze), beyond that
observation in these initial days they could have been talking a foreign
language. My early field book notes consist of a list of geological jargon with
question marks beside them (for later looking-up in a dictionary), and copied
(thankfully idiot-proof) diagrams that Mike Horne drew in the sand with his
umbrella to explain the surroundings. Initially it didn’t help that this was a
questionable landscape – I was trying to comprehend the unknown, the
hypothesized, about a terrain that just kept throwing geological curveballs.
However once I had settled into the frame of mind that 2+2 might equal 4, 5 or
indeed any other random integer potentially proven or disproven by sampling; I
became less worried by predetermined fact and more intent upon potential areas
of enquiry.
After 2 years of field visits, gone to me is the visually
nice white chalk topped with that ooze of brown mud; and an appreciation has
appeared of forensic searching for biostratigraphical fossils, posing reasons
for folding and faulting, descriptions of marl content, determining the age and
colour of till samples, magnifying grains of sand to distinguish the processes
they have undergone, pondering the far flung origins of glacial erratics and
weaving predictions around the size, sorting, orientation, shape and turbation
of chalk clasts. Within these lay the foundation for the headland’s narrative
probability.
So this particular artwork sprang from that empathy with
Lamplugh’s initial search of an unexplored, misunderstood terrain. He possessed
far more knowledge than I when he studied the headland, so as a complete
initiate, I have in the artwork reverted to a primary Victorian method of
learning: the ABC, and added a flavour of my research, queries, field notes and
visual perceptions I had to forage for in order to try and understand some of
the geological riddle of Flamborough."
Click here for the On the Endless Here Facebook page. There is also an OTEH website projects page on www.annakirksmith.com
Thursday 17th January 2019 - Evening lecture - Dr. Michael Oates on "Exploring Morocco's Palaeontological Riches".
The speaker on a heavily dug hillside of Devonian mudstone near Tazoulait
Abstract -
The southeastern part of Morocco lies within the limits of the Sahara Desert and
is an arid desolate, scarcely inhabited environment, with an undulating eroded
basement of folded Palaeozoic sediments beneath an unconformable cover of
horizontal Cretaceous deposits. The common theme to all these sediments is that
they have suffered relatively little structural or thermal modification and are
very fossiliferous. An overland expedition in early 2018 examined the geology
in three areas of southeast Morocco, near Taouz, Alnif and Goulmima, which is
just at the margin of the Atlas mountains. Because the African continent has
remained fairly stable throughout Phanerozoic time, there has been less burial
than might be expected, and the preservation of the fossils is correspondingly
excellent. Expect to hear about Ordovician trilobites in abundance, a surprise
Silurian limestone with 3D graptolites, Devonian shelf faunas and Upper
Cretaceous freshwater to marine fossils, and how they are found. Without the
restrictions of a 20kg airline baggage allowance, as many specimens as I can
carry will be available to view on the night.
Ammonite, Fish and Reptile miners of Asfla
Thursday 6th December 2018 - Paul Hildreth on "Women in Geology"
Abstract - “This talk was inspired by a
meeting of the Yorkshire Geological Society, “Leading Yorkshire Figures in the
History of Geology” in 2017 which featured many individuals but none of them
women. A little research into women geologists generally revealed that
there had been outstanding contributions and that their achievements, more often
than not, had been against the odds. In more recent years several women stood
out despite them working in a male-dominated branch of the sciences.
November 2018 (postponed) - Dr Eddie Dempsey of Hull University on "The Great Glen Fault Zone - Back and forth for longer than we thought"
Abstract - "
Deformation in the upper crust
during orogenesis is often characterised by the reactivation of
pre-existing structures. Unravelling the early deformation history of such
structures such as the Great Glen Fault Zone (GGFZ) is generally problematic due
to overprinting by subsequent events. While the Devonian to Oligocene movements
of the GGFZ are well documented, the earliest deformations associated with this
fault remain contentious with both sinistral and dextral early movements
proposed. The GGFZ consists of a poorly exposed ̴
300m wide intensely deformed fault core and a series of parallel synthetic high
angle strike-slip faults. One such parallel structure is the Rubha na h-Earba Fault
sits approx. 300m from the inferred GGFZ core and is exposed on the North shore
of Loch Linnhe at Kilmalieu. Due to its proximity to the GGFZ it is reasonable
to assume a common deformation history. Field analysis reveals, four distinct
high angle fracture sets; Group 1 (ENE/WSW); Group 2 (N/S) and; Group 3 (NW/SE)
and; Group 4 (NE/SW).Group 1 are associated with green cataclasites,
slickenlines and R-shears. They predate the deposition of the overlying lower
Devonian Rubha Na
h-Earba Sandstone
Formation. These are the earliest recognised GGFZ related structure and display
dextral shears sense and are consistent with dextral motion of the Rubhba na
h-Earba Fault within the GGFZ. Group 2 structures are associated with
widespread brecciation and oxidation of the fault rock and are regularly seen to
cross cut the Group 1 structures. Shear sense indicators (R-shears, oversteps,
jogs, and offsets) are typically sinistral and are consistent with sinistral
motion of the Rubha na h-Earba Fault. Group 3 are associated with minor
calcite mineralization and camponite-monchiquite dykes emplaced during
Permo-carboniferous dextral motion of the GGFZ. These structures regularly
overprint groups 1 and 2 (locally reactivate group 2) and are predominantly
tensile or dextral. Finally, Group 4 strike parallel to the Rubha na
h-Earba Fault are heavily brecciated with cataclasites present. Shear sense
indicators associated with these structures are mostly sinistral but dextral
motions are common suggesting a complex reactivation history. Stress inversion,
slip and dilation tendency modelling indicate that the Group 1 structures
may have resulted from a regional stress regime consistent with E/W Scandian
compression. This raises the intriguing possibility that the GGFZ formed as a
Scandian transform fault at the southern end of the Moine Thrust Zone.
At the Annual General Meeting in 2018 the following policies were adopted -
That the Safety Policy be amended by adding a
paragraph about working near cliff or quarry faces and a sentence about
generic risk assessments.
That the Treasurer will only issue a receipt for
payment of the annual subscription if specifically requested by a member.
That the Committee should update the
Data Protection
Policy to meet the requirements of the new General Data Protection
Regulations
Thursday 15th March 2018 - Dr Katie Strang on "Urban geology: buildings rock!"
Abstract -
Stone is one
of our most important natural resources here in the UK and the local stone has
provided a source of high quality, versatile and durable building material.
Scotland has one of the richest legacies of traditional (pre-1919) buildings and
other stone structures of any country in the world and the most common types of
building stones are directly influenced by the areas underlying local geology.
In Glasgow, many of the stone buildings were built in the second part of the
19th century and are now some of the stonework is showing signs of decay and
calls for repair. Years of accumulation of air pollution from industry and
domestic coal burning through much of the 20th century has accelerated stone
decay in many parts of the city. Furthermore, inappropriate repairs have
resulted in worsening of the problem. This talk will outline the most common
building stones in Scotland and the North of England and the important physical
properties of these building stones, and the importance in choosing a suitable
replacement in building conservation.
Thursday 25th January 2018 - Dr Liam Herringshaw of Hull University "Burrowing Through Time".
Abstract - "My plan in this talk is to try and explain why burrowing worms are amongst the most important creatures on Earth (something that Darwin first realised), why they were crucial to the Cambrian Explosion of life on Earth, and also how fossilized burrows can affect the properties of economically important rocks, from oil and gas reservoirs to aquifers (not to mention shales that might be fracked). Last but not least, I will introduce the strange science of ichnology, and its even stranger practitioners, including the Oxford professor who made tortoises walk on pie dough."
Prof. John Catt died on 7th December 2017.
John had been a member of the Society since 2006. He had been associated with
Hull and Holderness for a long time; studying for his PhD with Lewis Penny at
the University and writing extensively about the Quaternary ice ages in the
region.
Thursday 14th December 2017 - Ian Heppenstall on "Grassington, Lea Green to Conniston Dib"
Abstract -
The area to the north of Grassington
including Grass and Bastow Woods, Lea Green, Kimpergill, White Nook Dib, the Old
Pasture and concluding with Conistone Dib contain a wealth of glacio-karst
features, numerous Bronze and Iron Age remains and, from a more recent period
are crossed by a maze of lead workings. Large parts of these areas were cleared
of trees at an early period and unlike many other places the monks of Fountains,
or any other abbey were only allowed limited access. The dip of the limestone
gives rise to a secondary valley formation high above and 'parallel' to the main
valley of Wharfedale but still part of it with Conistone Old Pasture forming a
high ridge between them. Other high features can be seen in the raised valley
before the ground rises again towards the alternating layers of gritstones and
limestones of Grassington Moor to the east of both Conistone and Grassington
where, once again, many lead workings are to be found. All in all this is a most
fascinating part of Higher Wharfedale.
Thursday 9th November 2017 - Dr Rob Newton of Leeds University
on "The early
Toarcian (Jurassic) oceanic anoxic event: untangling global and regional
signals
Malcolm Fry died on 19th June 2017 - Paul Hildreth has written an obituary
19th October 2017
-
Professor Patrick Boylan: Geological Sites on the World Heritage List
In 1972 the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) adopted the World Heritage Convention, which aims to promote and
support the conservation of the world’s cultural and natural heritage. This can
be considered one of the world’s most successful international treaties in any
field, as it has now been adopted by 193 States (and through them perhaps at
least 30 subsidiary self-governing territories in addition). Though the original
primary aim was that States adopting the Convention would adopt and implement
national policies that would protect all aspects and levels of their national
heritage, it must be admitted that its runaway success has been the secondary
aim of establishing a World Heritage List identifying site and monuments etc.
considered to of the highest universal value and significance to the whole of
humanity.
Nominations for Inscription on the World Heritage List can only be made by
States Parties, and these are then evaluated and voted on by an elected World
Heritage Committee. However, in practice many States tend to prioritise their
major national heritage resources with the aim of gaining additional
international recognition and - increasingly - tourism numbers.
Disappointingly, though geological interest and
importance is one of the major criteria for inscription on the World Heritage
List, in practice reatively few sites have been Inscribed wholly or partly
because
Patrick Boylan, a Past President and Honorary Member of the Hull Geological
Society and Professor Emeritus of Heritage Policy and Management at City
University of London, was for many years an adviser on museums, heritage and
conservation to UNESCO, including the World Heritage Committee, and over the
past forty years he has visited personally a significant proportion of the
natural and cultural sites and monuments now on the World Heritage List.
In this illustrated lecture he will outline not just the operation of the
Convention, but also the geological interest and significance of many of the
geological sites on the List.
Thursday 16th February 2017 - Dr Mike Widowson of Hull University "Divining the Deccan: Tectonics, stratigraphy, timing and effects of a major Large Igneous Province (LIP)"
Abstract
Since
publication
of the milestone paper by Alvarez et al.1, the Cretaceous –
Tertiary boundary (KTB) mass extinction has generally been considered the result
of the Chicxulub impact and its attending environmental effects; a view
reinforced by the recent contribution by Schulte et al.2. The main
alternative hypothesis,
Previous
dating studies of the Deccan Traps,
2.
Schulte et al. (2010)
Science
327 (no.
5970), 1214-1218.
3.
Chenet, A.L., et al.
(2008), Journal of Geophysical Research.,
113,
B04101, doi:10.1029/2006JB004635.
4.
Self, S., Widdowson, M., Thordarson,
T. and Jay, A.E. (2006) Earth and
Planetary Science Letters,
248,
517 - 531.
5.
Jay, A.E. and Widdowson, M. (2008)
Journal of the Geological Society of
London, 165, 177-188.
6.
Hooper, P.R., Widdowson, M. and Kelley, S.P. (2010)
Geology
38(9), 839-842.
Thursday 15th December 2016 - Dr Anna Bird of Hull University on “Metamorphism of the Caledonides of Scotland, deformation of a mountain belt”
ABSTRACT - The Caledonian Orogeny represents the closure
of the Iapetus Ocean and Caledonian orogenic events in northern Scotland are
traditionally interpreted in terms of two separate orogenic events: an early
Ordovician (~ 470-465 Ma, Grampian) arc-continent collision, followed by
Silurian (~ 435 – 425 Ma, Scandian) continent-continent collision of eastern
Laurentian and Baltica. These events overprint the effects of much earlier
mid-Neoproterozoic (Knoydartian) orogenesis representing the closure of a much
older ocean basin. Dating metamorphic minerals is one method of establishing
when deformation events occurred and are useful in helping to establish how long
it took these ocean basins to close. Many garnets from many different
lithologies from the Highlands have Scotland have been dated. New dates show
that there is also a 450 Ma deformation event within the Caledonian Orogeny. The
ages obtained throw further light on the timing of orogenic events and indicate
a more complex Caledonian history than hitherto suspected. New
Neoproterozoic ages show that this area has been affect by early two stages of
deformation, a much more widespread Knoydartian event, and ages, ranging from
947-748 Ma, which may be correlated with the an earlier orogenic event (980-910
Ma) recorded in East Greenland. These dates suggests that it may have taken
almost 100 Ma to close the Iapetus ocean and the Neoproterozoic ocean basin
appears to have taken even longer or perhaps closed in several stages.
Thursday 19th January 2017 - Ian Heppenstall on "the Geology along the north and middle Craven Faults between Malham and Threshfield".
Abstract - Near Malham the North and Middle Craven Faults begin to converge, being at their closest in Threshfield . Parts of their courses are indistinct but across Threshfield Malham Moor and Threshfield Moor they show up very plainly, whilst there are other geological, archaeological and historic features around and adjacent to them. By means of maps and photographs I will show and explain these features.
Copyright - Hull Geological Society 2019
Copyright Hull Geological Society.
Registered Educational Charity No. 229147